When Polio vaccine was developed, there was collective sigh of relief among parents. Thousands of children had been stricken with paralysis and death. You can read many novels about the frightening times.I had some friends growing up who had partial paralysis.
The remarkable progress in eliminating these childhood diseases, often fatal, including measles, tetanus and more, has led to complacence. The anti-vaccine crowd with their unscientific scare tactics are taking advantage of what has become a widespread belief that "if it is on the Internet it must be true".
I never thought I would hear or see a case of tetanus (with its 70% plus mortality) but sure enough, in MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019 Mar 8, there is a report of an unvaccinated child who almost died from the disease and is left with permanent disabilities.
Vaccines are a major step forward in medicine and have saved countless lives. Fables of their bad side effects belong with "fake news". Get your vaccines.
No comments:
Post a Comment